


Love's Debut! ((HARUKA NANASE x READER))

by Hachi (COUP_DETAT_Fanfiction)



Category: Free!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:39:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/COUP_DETAT_Fanfiction/pseuds/Hachi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A normal, peaceful life. Really. Is it that hard to keep? Because suddenly, you end up in an embarrassing dating show, you're starting to fail school and fangirls are stalking you. And then, you fall head over heels over a certain mackerel-loving swimmer boy, who is your best friend's best friend.</p><p>Science class, jealousy, fangirls, friendships, breakups and the TV show that started it all... </p><p>It's just all a big mess. </p><p>Haruka Nanase x Reader! Written by Hachi (八/ハチ)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1 - Peaceful Sunday

ＵＮＥＤＩＴＥＤ ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ. Ｉ ＷＡＮＴ ＴＯ ＫＮＯＷ ＷＨＡＴ ＹＯＵ ＧＵＹＳ ＴＨＩＮＫ ＢＥＦＯＲＥ Ｉ  
ＥＤＩＴ ＡＮＹＴＨＩＮＧ.

ＩＦ ＹＯＵ ＧＵＹＳ ＬＩＫＥ ＩＴ, Ｉ'ＬＬ ＥＤＩＴ ＢＥＦＯＲＥ ＰＯＳＴＩＮＧ ＴＨＥ ＮＥＸＴ ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ.

 

LOVE'S DEBUT! - CHAPTER 1  
Peaceful Sunday

"So. What are you gonna do during the break?" Rin asks, picking up small grains of rice with his chopsticks. "We should do something together, you know."

You sigh, and munch on an apple. "I don't know...the holidays are usually pretty lame. Everything's far away, it's hot..." You scrunch up your face. It's sour. "Besides, we're probably going to be given a ton of homework anyways," you continue, tossing the apple into the bin. The sun shines brightly, the tree you're sitting under casting hardly any shade. Your eyelids are heavy as you try to look up at Rin, waiting for him to respond.

"I'm gonna swim loads...I need to get as good as Haru, and build my strength," Rin says, grinning, his shark teeth gleaming. You laugh a bit.

"You and your damned swimming, Rin..." You sit back against the warm wooden bench, and look up at the sky. The small slivers of cloud drift idly past, the sky a stunning blue."And who's this Haru, anyway? He's the one who goes to Iwatobi, right? You're always rambling on about him. Maybe I should meet one day. Him and your other swimming buddies..." you trail off a little bit, the sun making you drowsy. You close your eyelids, and rest in the warm light of the sun.

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me."

You open your eyes a little irritatingly, and straighten up your back. "Don't even know what's so great about swimming anyway...I just don't get it..." you mutter. You rummage through your school bag, your stomach suddenly growling again, but find nothing but a few scraps of torn paper and two English books. "Damn." 

"No, but seriously..." Rin throws over a packet of chocolate biscuits your way. You catch it with one arm, like one of those geared up baseball guys. "We should do something. I can't swim forever, and surely even you get tired of your books."

You laugh. "Excuse me, Rin Matsuoka, but you can never get bored of books. It's like...a beautiful world that you wouldn't want to leave." Your eyes sparkle, as Rin's blank face watches you. "...Not everyone understands it, I guess." You take out a cookie. "Anyway, if we're going anywhere, bring that Nitori or somebody along. I don't want to seem like we're a couple." Rin winces.

"He'll just cling onto me all the time..." Rin says, looking a little bashful.

"He's so cute though. The way he follows you around like a puppy whimpering "senpai, senpai!" is just adorable. He really looks up to you," you say as you pick up your juice carton. You poke your straw through, a few droplets spilling onto the grass.

A blanket of silence lays over the scene as the two of you sit quietly for a moment. The sun hides behind the clouds for a bit, the sky turning a little duller. While taking a sip of orange juice, you suddenly get a buzz in your back pocket. You take your phone out, the tiny key chain jingling, and scroll through your messages.

"Heyy. Having a nice date?"

What?! You almost do a spit take, and about to reply angrily, before reading the whole text. 

"Anyway, you have to get home. There's something here for you so..."

Something here for me? You stare down at the phone screen with a confused look, not really focusing on your sister's opening line anymore. Yet now you have to leave Rin to go home for probably no reason. You sigh, muttering under your breath, and slip your phone back into your pocket. Rin asks what's wrong while you finish up your juice and start packing everything away. "My sister told me that there's a surprise for me and that I have to go home pronto," you say, running your hand through your hair. "Sorry about this. I thought this was going to be a nice Sunday since I never see you much, but my sister had to ruin even that." 

Rin smiles. "Don't worry about it! Tell me what it is when you get home, though."

"Will do," you laugh. 

The two of you pack everything up, stuffing any trash into a filled up bin, and leave. Rin walks one way, and you the other. You pick up your bike and lift yourself up on it, throwing in your bag into the front. You kick off the stand and claw at the pedals, the bike starting to make noise. A peaceful cycle-through the quiet neighborhoods of Iwatobi. The sun began to peek through the clouds once more, but it wasn't too hot. It was the perfect day. Until your phone began vibrating continuously in your back pocket. 

"Where are you"  
"Did you get my message?"  
"Did you start making out with Rin or something?"  
"Hurry up"  
"???? Hello???"

You sigh irritatingly, deleting your messages one by one. It can't be that exciting. You usually try to avoid going home too early. It...brought back memories. Memories you'd rather not think about. You tighten your grip on your bicycle handle and slide your phone into the metal basket. Grabbing the handle by both hands once more, you race to your house at lightening speed, even riding past that beloved ice-cream shop. I'll come back for you later!

You wave to a few old ladies from your neighbourhood, and turn sharply around a corner. House number 43, 45, 47... You come to a sudden stop at number 49, a little traditional Japanese house, nothing special. A golden plate hangs at the door, your surname written in black calligraphy. Most of the other houses are the same, surnames varying, flowers varying. You hop off your bike, and lean it against the wall while digging through your pocket. A set of keys gleam in the light, disappearing as they are tucked into a keyhole. 

You lift your bag from the basket, along with your mini Samsung Galaxy. You open the creaking door cautiously, ready for your sister to jump out at any minute. "Kyouko, I'm back. Why'd you drag me all the way back home?" You're about to head upstairs to drop off your bag, before your sister emerges from the kitchen, her duel ponytails bouncing.  
2  
"Onee~chan. So... the surprise.." Kyouko looks a little sheepish, her face slightly flushing. You step back into the hall.

"Yeah. What is it?" 

Kyouko scratches her head. "So, uh, you know last month when I had you sign a submission form for a magazine? Because dad was still at work and I had you do it?" 

"Yeah." 

"Well, actually... I entered you and I in a competition to star in a local TV show, here in Iwatobi... and apparently the age limit was 16, so I couldn't get in, but you did, so..." Kyouko smiles, a gleam in her eye. "You start Tuesday."

You narrow your eyes suspiciously, and fold your arms. "What TV show, exactly?"

Your sister grins a little cynically. "That really embarrassing dating show, The Date and the Fig. You were screaming about wanting a boyfriend and all one day, so you got in. Hah, lucky, right?" 

The Date and the Fig.  
You know. Date as in a romantic date, and date the fruit...  
And fig...the fruit...  
Never mind. Nothing matters when you know your social life is ending. 

Right?! 

 

A/N:  
I'm trying out a new genre, so I'm sorry this chapter sucked...!!  
~Hachi


	2. Apparently

LOVE'S DEBUT! - CHAPTER 2

You stare at your sister with horror and disbelief. That show? It's probably the most embarrassing and irritating TV series in all of Japan? You touch your hot forehead, trying to focus.   
Your sister plays around with her brown ponytails, a large brown envelope in her other hand. You step forward and quickly snatch the envelope from her hands, ripping apart the top.

"K-Kyouko, are you serious? I-I was acting!" you say hysterically, drawing out colourful papers. "I was playing a role for drama class! I'm not desperate for a boyfriend or anything!" You start skimming the pages, the fun, giant lettering dancing across the sheet. There it was, in big blue bubble letters: Congratulations, ___. You've been selected.

"It's not my fault you're such a good actor," Kyouko says, her voice light and playful. "I honestly thought you were being serious. Perhaps this show is the stepping stone to greater things!" Kyouko bounces off into the kitchen, the sound of the fridge door opening. "Care for a pudding, sis?"

You shake your head absentmindedly, and proceed slowly upstairs. The stairs moaned with every heavy step you took. You enter your bedroom, and place the envelope onto your bed, spreading the sheets of paper evenly around. It was mostly filled with information on the history of the show, some of the people behind the scenes, the director , so on and so forth. You still couldn't believe you're going to be on this show. At least it's not nationwide, at least it's not nationwide. You throw yourself on the bed, crumpling the papers. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think. You take out your phone and find Rin's contact. You hesitate before sending a message. He'll probably make fun of you. He's Rin after all. You sigh and hit send anyway. Within moments, your phone buzzes with a response.

Rin: The Date and The Fig? Really??

You read his message in a sarcastic tone. That's what you thought he would sound like, anyway. You narrow your eyes and quickly type back a message.

You: Yeah... Go ahead, laugh!! I don't care anymore.

Rin: Haha, it's not that. I'll get my fair share of laughing later.  
No, it's just that Nagisa texted me while I was walking home... You know  
Nagisa, right? The blonde shota guy?

You: No...but continue

Rin: Well he texted me out of the blue and said that apparently Haru got into the  
same show...

You sit up in your bed. Haru? That boy Rin always talks about... Your pulse begins to rush as you start thinking of this mysterious boy. What is he like? If he made such an influence on Rin, then he has to be somewhat of a... a genius? A talented young mind?  
You play around with your phone, shuffling it around in your hands. You're going to have to admit, it's all kind of exciting. Perhaps this TV show won't be a bad thing. Besides Haru, you'll get to meet a bunch of interesting people. And Kyouko was right, think of the opportunities...though you've never really thought of an acting career.

You take your phone again, and type away another message.

You: Really? I guess I'll get to meet him soon.

Rin: Yeah. Maybe you guys should meet sooner, then maybe you won't be as nervous on the day??

You: Yeah, that'd be cool.

Rin: yeah.

Conversation over, you toss your phone somewhere, and start sorting out those crumpled papers. Blah, blah, blah, TV, directors, producers, so on and so on. You flick through the thin pages and get to one explaining the structure of the show.  
Day 1: Introduction and challenge  
Day 2: Getting to know each other and challenge   
Day 3: Secrets and challenge  
Day 4: A special surprise and challenge  
Day 5: FINAL challenge and Voting Time

Looking over the entirety of the show again, and your excitement fades quickly. This show seems incredibly dumb. "This week is going to be the longest days of my life..." you mutter under your breath, not at all amused at what you're going to have to go through. The setup is ridiculous. A dating show and a game show merged into one? Albeit, you're not surprised. There are worse things on the air than this.

Your eyes droop as you get sick of reading. Today was supposed to be a good day, but that got ruined. Your week was going to be the usual routine, but that got ruined. You feel confident that one day you will pay your sister back for this...  
That's the last thing you think of before you drift off to sleep.

\- 

"A dating show, is that right?" your father chuckles as he cuts apart some juicy beef on his plate. Tonight's dinner is Western food. Roast beef with gravy and Yorkshire pudding, garnished with garden peas. You believe that it's a British dish. "That sounds fun, doesn't it? Wouldn't have minded going when I was your age." 

"Oh, haha," you say, twirling some peas around the plate. "I feel ecstatic. It was all Kyouko who put me to all of this, y'know. I would've never went myself, I have enough on my plate as it is! I need to study science, not go off gallivanting with some guy." You scoop up some greens onto your fork. before looking at your dad from under your hair. "As a father, you should be against this."

Your father gives a hearty laugh. "___, you need to learn to relax. School is important, but you shouldn't exhaust yourself." 

You give a slight shrug as your father says this. He's right, in a way. You've only started high school, you don't need to overexert yourself just yet. Dinner finishes, and you're set to cleaning-up duty. You don't wash the dishes with much gusto, though you're not tired after that nap. You don't feel like going up to your room just yet. The sparkling soap foams up, and bubbles begin rising up as you idly rub a dish clean. You're lost in your thoughts, thinking of the show, thinking of school, thinking of friends, thinking of a lot of things.

Maybe things won't be as bad you think. Maybe there's a one in a million chance that you'll actually find love. 

 

A/N:

Finished finished finished I am actually finished! Wow! Unedited chapter (sorta) but I hope you will enjoy!   
Thank you!

-Hachi


	3. Chapter 3

LOVE'S DEBUT! - CHAPTER 3

Tiny particles, toxic chemicals and ear - shattering explosions, all the bad stuff that make up chemistry. This is the thought that ran through your head each and every time you attended the class. Though science is a wonderful thing, the complexity of each little detail made your head spin and wonder how you even passed this class last year. Science could make one stagger with both joy and agony. 

You absentmindedly tap your pen softly against a stack of research papers, most people's filled with messy chicken scrawl, while yours has arguably more spaces than anybody else in the class. You tried to fill more in as the lessons went along, but life's full of ugly distractions. With the TV show being the most recent escapade, you feel drained of energy. Slaving over research papers honest to God does not sounds inviting at this moment. You glare at the paper uncontrollably, with increasing annoyance and dislike. Stop reminding me to finish you. Stop it. Meanwhile, another pile of pages beckon for you to pick up a pen and start writing. They're forms to fill in for The Date and The Fig. You've straining over them almost as much as your science stuff. Dumping endless complaints and sighs of despair on Rin, he decided to invite Haru to meet you, suggesting it might ease the nerves a bit. Not for long though, since Rin has his swimming practice later. You reluctantly agreed, though you're not quite in the mood to be acquainting new folks.

Hopelessly looking over the forms, you fiddle with your polka-dotted pen before eventually summoning up the motivation to scratch down your name on the forms. There. Nice round letters depicting your full name. But alas, a name wasn't enough to fill out all of these documents. There was plenty of stuff, like what things you like, your hobbies, so on and so on. Questions to know more information. It reminded you of a virus downloading endless streams of private data about you. 

Are you a cat person or a dog person?  
What sort of a question is that? You think to yourself. What if I'm not either? What if I like birds? Or fish? You simply circle both options and carry on writing. Things like can you cook, do you get good grades, more useless things like that. Is it good for the media to leech so much information off people like this? 

You get to individual talents. What do you believe you're good at? It's not like you're a prodigy. You're okay at some things, better at others. But a skill you're especially good at? None exactly come to mind. You start racking your brain for some options you could put down. You get good grades at English. Geography's not bad. You can twitch your nose a bit.   
Aha! You can read two 300-400 page novels in a week. That's pretty impressive, huh!   
You proceed to take this down, thinking of how many people will be thrilled by this piece of info. Oh boy, will they be shocked-

"Miss ___."

You look up. 

"What are you doing in the middle of my lesson? I don't believe those are notes for the upcoming test." Your chemistry teacher looms over you, like a bouncy castle. She's full and bountiful, and loves to eat sickly sweet cakes. Despite her size, she adores herself and believes that she's an undiscovered gem, a potential contestant for America's Next Top Model. Ms Iyashii has a full head of scraggly black hair, and sometimes enjoys wearing a skirt too short for her age. She wears shiny black glasses slid up at the very top of her nose, with curved frames too stylish for her. Looking like this, and she still wonders why she isn't married as of yet. And the worst part, perhaps, is that she's an absolute chemistry nut and won't shut her mouth about it. Like she expects everyone to become a chemistry major. Especially when you're having such a hard time passing this class. Ms. Iyashii does have a point though. You might've been able to do all of this TV stuff later. 

"Uh, sorry Miss. I'll put it away now," you stammer, but before you get a chance to swipe the papers off the desk and into your bag, Ms Iyashii snatches the majority of papers from your grasp. She examines them intently, carefully, flicking through the pages with her stubby fingers. Your back slumps as you begin to pout. It's like everyone is out to invade your personal space today.   
The teacher narrows her eyes, while your classmates lie in wait. Is she going to yell at you? Is she going to laugh? Will she give you detention? What do the papers say, anyway? A group of girls at the back of the class snicker while the boys gawp, making you feel only slightly uncomfortable. 

"A TV show? You?" She turns her head to you, with your classmates suddenly getting restless. What is she talking about? TV? ___? Nah! You slide down your seat and try to think where you can escape to at recess. Everyone's going to ask questions about this and it's completely inevitable. Am I red right now? I'm red. I'm blushing like a tomato, like a rose, like beetroot! The urge to cover your hands with your face is radiant. What will I do?

"Never thought you of all people would sign up for a dating show. I always thought you were quite tame," your teacher continues as you contemplate jumping out the window into the courtyard. Ms. Iyashii takes a look at you, analysing your appearance. "You're so... bold." 

You stretch out to snatch your papers back. "My sister tricked me...into signing up..." you trailed off. "It wasn't me.."

Ms. Iyashii clutches on the documents with an iron grip. "Alright. But you can do these things later, certainly not in class. I'll give these-" she waves the pile of paper in front of you. "-back to you later." She leaves your desk, snapping at some boys to quit laughing. You slide down in your seat. Your cheeks flare as some classmates continued to watch you, like you're going to jump out, because you're so 'bold'. You take a deep sigh. 

Two unfinished doodles in your notebook and a droning lecture later, the lesson at last came to an end. You swipe your books into your bag and arrive at the teacher's desk to collect your documents. She looks at you with a twinge of excitement in her eye. You turn mildly uncomfortable.

"We'll be rooting for you, ___!" Ms. Iyashii exclaims. You force a smile as your classmates mumble and chatter about it too. Some girls you've never talked to before said they'll be watching the show for you. The boys kept their distance. You almost snatch your papers to escape the riotous classroom, dodging some supportive pats on the back. How you wish you could give Ms Iyashii an evil glare! Could she not care less about embarrassing you?

You walk meticulously through the corridor, examining your phone.

Rin: You still coming today? To the TV station?

You: Yeah, sure!

Rin: I'm bringing some friends from Iwatobi. You don't mind, do you?

You stop walking. 

Um. 

Yeah. I do mind. 

You: No, course not!


End file.
